The Zone Leads The Way In Salt Lake City

Last month, The Zone reigned supreme in the Salt Lake City sports radio ratings race. In March, the story was no different.

The ratings for Men 25-54 are in, and once again, The Zone continues to lead the pack. The radio station finished well ahead of its competitors (ESPN 700 and 1320 The Fan) while turning in a 6th place finish in the station’s key demographic.

For ESPN 700, the news wasn’t all bad. The radio station received another excellent month from Dan Patrick, plus increased its rank and share during Bill Riley’s program. The Fan on the other hand was in the distance, and has a lot more ground to make up.

Here are the station by station comparisons for this month:

97.5/1280 The Zone (Simulcast combined number):

6a-10a = David James and Patrick Kinahan (DJ and PK) – 4.6 (8th)

10a-12p = Jake Scott and Tony Parks – 5.1 (5th)

12p-3p = Hans Olsen and Scott Garrard – 5.3 (3rd)

3p-7p = Spence Checketts and Gordon Monson – 5.3 (4th)

6a-7p = Monday-Friday – 5.1 (6th)

*** The Zone is competing against their own success. They’re comfortably ahead in the market, but do have a legitimate threat to deal with in the Dan Patrick Show. Month to Month they were flat in mornings, but lost a little more than a point in middays and nine tenths of a point in afternoons. However, their rankings remained the same for the 12p-3p and 3p-7p shows. The station currently sits 6th which is excellent. The challenge on their end is to stay consistent and find a way to crack the Top 5.

ESPN 700 (Flagship station for the University of Utah):

5a-8a = Mike and Mike – 2.7 Ranked 12th)

8a-11a = Dan Patrick – 4.1 Ranked 9th)

11a-2p = Bill Riley – 3.1 (12th)

2p-7p = Sean O’Connell & Brian Swinney – 1.7 (23rd)

6a-7p = Monday-Friday – 2.6 (16th)

*** Dan Patrick is popping a strong number for the radio station. Given that his show is national and doesn’t add a local expense, that’s a big help. Riley’s first full month was solid. With a few more months under his belt, he could work his way into the Top 10. The main priority right now is to support the afternoon show which recently underwent changes. If O’Connell & Swinney can deliver similar numbers to Riley, and the national programs continue to pull their weight, 700 can close the gap on The Zone. Catching them though will be very difficult.

*** Lewis is brand new in mornings so it’s going to take some time for his show to become familiar to people. To gain a fair evaluation of the show’s progress, a good six to twelve months is necessary. As we mentioned last month, the national syndication between 10a-3p isn’t helping the station’s ratings performance. It does allow them to keep expenses down, which may or may not be helpful to the radio station’s economic position in the market. Gunther and Anderson are carrying the radio station right now. They’re the only show that’s ranked ahead of ESPN 700.